The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
179.
As promised
by Mr Blair on 19 December 2002 and 9 January 2003,
Cabinet
discussed
Iraq on 16 January 2003.
180.
Despite Mr
Blair’s promise that military options would be discussed and
the
imminence
of the formal decision to offer a significant land contribution,
Cabinet
was not
briefed on the substance of the military options or the
circumstances in
which force
would be used.
181.
Cabinet did
not discuss the strategic implications of making a
military
contribution.
“… he
wanted to make the United Nations route work. The inspectors …
needed
time to
achieve results … If Iraq was not complying with the demands of the
United
Nations, he
believed the … Security Council would pass a second
resolution.”64
183.
Mr Blair
subsequently stated:
“Meanwhile,
British and American forces were being built up in the Gulf. If it
came
to
conflict, it would be important for success to be achieved quickly.
The build up was
having an
effect on the Iraqi regime, with internal support dwindling for
President
Saddam
Hussein … The strategy remained to pursue the United Nations
course.”
184.
Mr Blair
concluded by telling Cabinet that he would be meeting President
Bush
to discuss
Iraq at the end of the month, after Dr Blix’s report to the
Security Council
on
27 January.
185.
The discussion
in Cabinet on 16 January of the wider policy is addressed
in
Section
3.6.
186.
Lord Turnbull
told the Inquiry that he:
“… wouldn’t
have expected Cabinet to get into the business of land forces
through
the north
or the south … I think they would probably have recognised that
that was
quintessentially
the business of a smaller group. So none of them suggested
a
serious
change of direction.”65
187.
In a statement
for the Inquiry, Mr Hoon wrote that, to the best of his
recollection,
Cabinet on
16 January:
“… was
devoted entirely to the efforts to secure a second resolution, and
was the
subject of
an unusually wide-ranging discussion.”66
64
Cabinet
Conclusions, 16 January 2003.
65
Public
hearing, 13 January 2010, page 60.
66
Statement,
2 April 2015, page 5.
412